Next Gen Squeezes Existing IP

The transition from the previous generation to Next-Gen consoles is hitting game publishers right in the intellectual property. Existing franchises are going to struggle to keep their publishers afloat, because of the immense costs and problems involved in adapting to the new console market. From the article: "The strong possibility of a new Medal of Honor game from EA could also affect Activision's numbers. The analyst estimates Gun sold 980K since launch, and that any sequel will struggle to match this, probably hitting no more than 780K. Another declining franchise is X-Men. The 2004 game X-Men Legends sold 1.2 million with last year's X-Men Legends II probably hitting around 750K. A third game this year is estimated to manage only 550K."

Tired of sequels?

[Spez]

Maybe people are tired of sequels?

Anybody want to try something new?

Re:Tired of sequels?

[Red Flayer]

It's not just sequels -- it's repetitive sequels. X-Men Legends II was little more than extra boards for Legends I.

Ditto for Baldur's Gate: DA and Champions of Norrath.

When you have a sequel that uses the same engine, and has very similar graphics and gameplay, of course it will sell fewer copies -- for many people, playing the first iteration or two is enough. The upside to this is that dev costs are lower, so reduced sales are still profitable.

The problem occurs when you develop a sequel for a next-gen system without making big changes to gameplay.

Then you still have high dev costs, but are still struggling with sluggish sales due to repetition.

This is a lesson learned early and applied well to the FF series -- ever notice that the gameplay (especially combat/item systems) changes with every sequel?

The larger issue

[ShadowsHawk]

I think the issue that is not covered is that companies are now expected to make certain profit margins. If they don't, their stock tanks and so do they. I realize the old saying is true. "Either you're growing or you're dying." This however, does not mean you need to maintain a 20% growth rate every single year.

It's about time for another crash

[Anonymous Coward]

Like the one we had in 84. That'd be refreshing.

What do YOU want to spend your $400 on?

[LordPhantom]

People are tired of eye-candy being the only compelling thing about a game. If you simply remake the -same- game again and again with "more polygons" is it still significantly more fun to play? For -many- games the answer is "no". Companies have to either allow you to do something new or have a unique idea in order to attract customers - and 30 iterations of EA NFL Exxxplosion 2130 isn't going to be better then than the current sequel "blah" that they put out. In short- if I want to play a good football game, why not buy a PS2 and 04 or 05? For the difference in cost, the game has to be that much more compelling. Of course, the other argument can (and should) be made that at some point we're going to get graphics -so- good, and controls -so- intuitive that we max out the abilities of the current hardware tech. There is, after all, only so close of an approximation of reality you can reach on a screen and gamepad...... Personally, I can't wait for VR :)